Wednesday, April 26, 2017

If you are a card maker who finds it, well, challenging to create masculine themed projects, you will find tons of inspiration at the Watercooler! Kath is the host of this week's Masculine "Anything Goes" Challenge.

I went to a stamp set that I really liked when I saw it. Had to have it. Got it - and haven't really used it much. I know every stamper probably has sets like that in their collection.

This one is called Pun Intended and is only available with Stampin' Rewards. It really is a clever and fun stamp set! See what I mean?

I seem to be in a "green" mood since hosting last week's challenge which had a Spring theme. I started with an Always Artichoke card base then used Always Artichoke and Mint Macaron to stamp the lines image from Playful Backgrounds on Very Vanilla cardstock. The circles are done with Archival Black.

The fun camera is from Pun Intended, as is the sentiment. I stamped the camera image in Archival Black onto Whisper White cardstock, coloured bits of it with Gold Wink of Stella, then fussy cut it.

I had a piece of Very Vanilla, with a square cut out of it, in my scrap pile and when I looked at it, I saw a frame - any of you who remember Polaroid cameras will know what I mean.

The piece of DSP from Serene Scenery is another tie-in to the camera theme. I love the Bokeh effect and it makes the camera look like it's floating.

For more inspiration visit Watercooler Wednesday to see what the other Watercooler Artists have done. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

Thursday, April 20, 2017

It's that time of the year again, where we say goodbye to some of our favourite things from the 2016-2017 Annual Catalogue. It's a sad time for some, but it's also an exciting time for some. Exciting, because it means we will have new stuff to fall in love with!

You may have arrived here from Marie's blog. I'm certain you loved her projects!

This month we are focusing on some of our favourite products that will no longer be available after May 31. There is always shock and surprise among demonstrators when the retirement list is revealed. And this year I had a few moments of shock and surprise. One of those moments was when I realized that the much beloved Gorgeous Grunge set is retiring. This set is, I think one of the first sets Stampin' Up! released that has only images of different textures. So versatile - it could be used on many, many styles of cards.

So, my first project features almost every image from the Gorgeous Grunge set:

I started with a piece of Whisper White cardstock and stamped each of the textures with a different In Color ink from the 2015-2017 collection - also retiring this year. I have to admit that it took me a while to get comfortable with these colours and the only one I will really miss is Tip Top Taupe - it is a great neutral. The other In Colors used here are Mint Macaron and Delightful Dijon. The other colour in this collection is Watermelon Wonder - it just did not fit with this design! For the background images here, I first stamped off once to get a more muted tone.

The leaves and sentiment are from another retiring set, Kinda Eclectic. I used Cucumber Crush, full strength to stamp them. A little bit of Copper Thread is peeking out from behind the banner with the sentiment.

Next up is a set I only recently acquired - Penned & Painted. This set had been on my wishlist ever since the catalogue came out, and finally ordered it. So it was a huge shock to me that it was on the retired list! I really thought it would carry over. I just love the sketchy look of it.

This is a two-step stamp set. One of the things I love about this is that each part of the image can be used by itself, as well as together as I did here.

To do this technique, I first stamped the background image of the flowers with Whisper White Craft ink. It is important to let this dry thoroughly before proceeding to the next step. Once it was dry, I used the wonderful new Watercolour Pencils to colour over the white. Once that was done, I stamped the detailed outline images with Archival Black ink. I love doing this technique on Crumb Cake cardstock, but decided to try it on Tip Top Taupe. Really like the effect!

In the middle of each flower, I did some random white dots using a Posca Paint Pen. To brighten things up a bit more, the smaller little flowers were stamped with Whisper White Craft ink.

A little bit of linen thread is all the embellishment this needed. The sentiment is from another retiring set - Picture Perfect - also a surprise to me! I stamped it with Early Espresso on a piece of Tip Top Taupe and cut it with a banner die from the Project Life Cards & Labels Framelits set. I have used this framelits set a lot - and not for doing memory keeping. It's great to use on cards!

For my third project, I had to stay with Penned & Painted! This time I used another of the flower images, and did the same technique - this time on Crumb Cake cardstock - and coloured all of the blooms with the Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay and Daffodil Delight Watercolour Pencils.

I also used one of the splatter images from Gorgeous Grunge, inked with Crumb Cake ink and stamped off once, to add a bit of texture to the background. To set off the image panel, I used the Basic Black and white striped pattern from the Neutrals Designer Series Paper Stack, which is also retiring.

Although the title of our blog hop this month is Retirement Means Goodbye, I'm really not saying goodbye to any of the products I used here! Since I am primarily a hobby demo, I can keep sets I really love and will use them in my mixed media projects. Mixed media is something I am just getting into, and it's a great way to use a lot of my Stampin' Up stuff. Plus, it's a lot of fun!

Now you are ready to move on to visit Sheri Lee. She has some fabulous things in store for you! Just click on the 'Next' button below.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Ah - Spring! It must be spring somewhere. If it would stop raining and warm up just a bit, we would be awash in colour here on the west coast of Canada. I think Mother Nature forgot to turn the tap off. Guess that's why it is known as the 'Wet Coast'.

When I chose Spring as the theme for this challenge, I really thought it would be here. As it is, everything is greening up nicely. So that is what I focused on for my project this week.

Lovely As A Tree was the perfect choice. This classic stamp set has been in the Stampin' Up catalogue for as long as I've been a demonstrator (9 years now) - and way before that as well. It is truly versatile and if you search Google or Pinterest you will find literally hundreds of projects using it.

For this, I used the image that is a line of trees and stamped it with Sahara Sand onto Whisper White cardstock. Then I took the awesome Watercolour Pencils and coloured over the stamped image, using Early Espresso and Old Olive. I then went over that with a Blender Pen.

The image is cut out with the largest oval from the Stitched Shapes framelits. I used my Old Olive marker and ran it around the edges to ink it up, and also to emphasize the stitches.

It is mounted on a piece of DSP from the Serene Scenery Paper Stack. Love that Bokeh effect! This in turn is matted with Old Olive cardstock and then finished with a Thick Whisper White card base.

A very quick card to do - and it captures the greeness of spring.

Now off you go to visit Watercooler Wednesday and check out how the other Watercooler artists have interpreted spring. Then link up your project for us to be inspired!

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Penny has us playing with colour this week at Watercooler Wednesday - one of my favourite types of challenge. It's easy to get in a rut and reach for the same colours again and again. And we all have our favourite combos. So, a colour challenge is a good way to break out of the box.

Here is what Penny gave us to work with:

I do really like each of these colours, but don't think I have used them all together before. Since it's always so easy to reach for one of my flower-themed stamp sets - another rut I fall into all the time! - I looked for something different. And, it just so happened my Dragonfly Dreams was near the top of the pile. This is the result:

The dots from the set make a great border, mostly Pool Party with just a sprinkling of Calypso Coral. I first stamped the sold dragonfly image onto the Whisper White cardstock with Island Indigo - stamped off once for the bottom layer, and then stamped full strength for the detailed layer.

Next I die cut the dragonfly out of Calypso Coral cardstock and coated it liberally with Clear Wink of Stella. I placed it over the stamped image, slightly offset to look like a shadow under the die cut. Here is a close-up of the dragonfly:

For some reason, when I went to fold the cardstock for my card base, I discovered it wasn't the correct size to score it a 4 1/4" So, rather than cut another piece, I improvised and took the opportunity to add a strip of Island Indigo to the inside. Like this:

You will also notice on the backside of the main image panel an array of the dots stamped in all three colours. I had initially done that when I first started, decided I didn't really like it, so I flipped the piece over and started over on the other side. But, as just an accent - it works!What will you create with these lucious colours? Go to Watercooler Wednesday to see what the other artists have done, then show us your colours.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Libby is this week's challenge host and she has chosen a fun sketch challenge for us:

I really like this sketch! It has a look that is very pleasing to the eye, I think, and lends itself well to any occasion, theme or colour combo.

Since I had just received yet another flower stamp set, I just had to play with it. Maybe I'm so drawn to the flower-themed sets because I can't grow them. I sure don't have the green thumb my Mom has!

The flower and dots are from Penned and Painted. I just love the sketchy, watercolour look of this 2-step stamp set. For the other two lines, I used Delicate Details. My colours are all from the retiring InColors: Tip Top Taupe, Mint Macarron, and Watermelon Wonder.

Now it's your turn! Visit Watercooler Wednesday to check out how the other Watercooler Artists were inspired by this sketch and link up your projects.

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"This is a personal web site of Gail Allen, an Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, and I am responsible for its content. Stampin' Up! does not endorse the use of or contents of the classes, services, or non-Stampin' Up! products I may offer here."